Silk-fibronectin protein alloy fibres support cell adhesion and viability as a high strength, matrix fibre analogue

Silk is a natural polymer with broad utility in biomedical applications because it exhibits general biocompatibility and high tensile material properties. While mechanical integrity is important for most biomaterial applications, proper function and integration also requires biomaterial incorporation into complex surrounding tissues for many physiologically relevant processes such as wound healing. In this study, we spin silk fibroin into a protein alloy fibre with whole fibronectin using wet spinning approaches in order to synergize their respective strength and cell interaction capabilities. Results demonstrate that silk fibroin alone is a poor adhesive surface for fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and vascular smooth muscle cells in the absence of serum. However, significantly improved cell attachment is observed to silk-fibronectin alloy fibres without serum present while not compromising the fibres' mechanical integrity. Additionally, cell viability is improved up to six fold on alloy fibres when serum is present while migration and spreading generally increase as well. These findings demonstrate the utility of composite protein alloys as inexpensive and effective means to create durable, biologically active biomaterials.T32 EB006359 - NIBIB NIH HH

Perturbation theory of the space-time non-commutative real scalar field theories

The perturbative framework of the space-time non-commutative real scalar field theory is formulated, based on the unitary S-matrix. Unitarity of the S-matrix is explicitly checked order by order using the Heisenberg picture of Lagrangian formalism of the second quantized operators, with the emphasis of the so-called minimal realization of the time-ordering step function and of the importance of the $\star$-time ordering. The Feynman rule is established and is presented using $\phi^4$ scalar field theory. It is shown that the divergence structure of space-time non-commutative theory is the same as the one of space-space non-commutative theory, while there is no UV-IR mixing problem in this space-time non-commutative theory.Comment: Latex 26 pages, notations modified, add reference

Growth Characteristics of Ecotype Superior Line of Bermudagrass and Development of Its rDNA Markers

Interest in turfgrass has steadily increased in Korea since the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup . Use of zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica L.) has been limited due to its slow recovery, low shoot density, short green period and low wear tolerance during dormancy (Lee et. al., 1999). Bermudagrass has high quality and fast recovery, but has low cold tolerance (Richardson et. al., 1978). This research compared the growth characteristics of a superior line of bermudagrass, named as Joyspy with other standard cultivars and to develop its rDNA markers

Growth Characteristics of Superior Lines of Zoysia Grass (\u3cem\u3eZoysia Japonica\u3c/em\u3e) And Development of Its DNA Markers

Demand for turf grass has steadily increased for recreation and sport fields after the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup in Korea. Zoysia grass has the advantage of easy management, including low water and fertiliser requirement, but has limitations such as low recovery, low shoot density and short green period (Kim et al., 1999). Objectives of this research were to select superior lines in the collected clones, compare the superior lines of zoysia grass with other standard cultivars for growth characteristics and to develop the DNA markers of superior lines

Patterns of Striped order in the Classical Lattice Coulomb Gas

We obtain via Monte Carlo simulations the low temperature charge configurations in the lattice Coulomb gas on square lattices for charge filling ratio $f$ in the range $1/3 < f < 1/2$. We find a simple regularity in the low temperature charge configurations which consist of a suitable periodic combination of a few basic striped patterns characterized by the existence of partially filled diagonal channels. In general there exist two separate transitions where the lower temperature transition ($T_p$) corresponds to the freezing of charges within the partially filled channels. $T_p$ is found to be sensitively dependent on $f$ through the charge number density $\nu = p_{1}/q_{1}$ within the channels.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figure

Variability With Depth of Some Physico-Chemical and Biological Parameters of Atlantic Ocean Water in Part of the Coastal Area of Nigeria

Results of in-situ measurements of some physico-chemical and biological parameters (temperature, electrical conductivity, density, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, pH, and salinity) of Atlantic Ocean water at various depths are presented. It is shown that temperature and dissolved oxygen vary significantly with depth, while variations of the other parameters with depth are minimal. Temperature, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, density, pH, and salinity vary in the ranges: 3.6\ub0C\u201328.32\ub0C, 1.8mg/l\u20138.4mg/l, 3 . 29 \u3bcs/cm \u2013 4 .71 \u3bcs/cm, 1017 .34 kg//m3 \u20131036 .61 kg//m3 , 7.1\u20138.4, and 34.52ppt \u201335.8ppt respectively. Turbidity is less than 1.0NTU, indicating that the water is clear and transparent